


Dog Days are Over

by torncorpse



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Case Fic, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-22
Updated: 2011-03-22
Packaged: 2017-10-17 05:17:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/173300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torncorpse/pseuds/torncorpse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An attempted bank robbery and kidnapping turns into so much more, altering a lot for Danny, Rachel and Grace as it goes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dog Days are Over

"Danny," it's the middle of the afternoon, Steve had just gotten the call about a bank robbery that turned into a kidnap situation and they were rolling out to. The only reason he'd answered the phone call was to tell Rachel that he was in the middle of something, but there's something in her voice that stops him. "Danny, please, you have to help." She's whispering, as if she'll be caught or found out, doing something she wasn't meant to. "There was a robbery, in the bank, I-I've been kidnapped."

The sentence makes his gut drop and he barely even notices Steve taking the corner far too fast, throwing them to the side and battering his shoulder into the door. "What? Rachel, where are you?" It had only been five minutes they were told, the robbers had fled the scene in a stolen car less than five minutes ago, it was what gave them the jump.

"They pushed me into the trunk, it's a red Mustang, I don't know the plates, I didn't see, they just, they just pushed me in, God Danny, you have to help." With the panic, her voice rises slightly, and the fact that she's on the phone -probably a phone they don't know she has, to a cop, doesn't sound good if she's caught.

"Okay, Rachel, just calm down, we're going to find you. I need you to stay on the line, okay, we're gonna get Chin to run a trace." The words jerk Steve into action, catching him up on the situation without having to spell it out. It's possibly one of the better qualities Steve has. "Rach, Rach, listen to me. Are you hurt? Are you okay?"

"I'm, I'm okay, just scared. They-they tied me up. They have guns Danny." Danny figures that's natural for bank robbers, but just consoles himself with the fact that Rachel isn't injured. Yet. Steve barks off the phone with Chin, one simple direction for him and Kono to meet them there and Danny hopes that means they have an address. The nod from Steve tells him they do.

"Okay, good. Just do everything they say, okay? We're on our way, we're coming to get you, okay?" Rachel just sobs slightly over the phone and Steve pushes his foot on the gas.

\--

"We don't have a warrant. We don't have probable cause or anything." Steve's tone isn't smug, it's the serious one he reserves for when they're about to break into some meth lab or drive onto a ship or when he's preparing to raid a house. So Danny isn't too mad at the slight hint of reproach in it.

"You know, I don't really care. They have my ex, they robbed a bank, they shot an innocent woman today. I don't care if you shoot them, blow them up, dangle them for sharks. I do not care. I just want to get in there and get her out." He'll worry about being hypocritical later; he'll worry about Steve's smugness about not playing by the rules and not following procedure when Rachel isn't in danger. He'll deal with it all later.

The four of them strap on their vests and Steve gives the nod, Kono and Chin taking the back while Steve takes the side and Danny goes for the front. Steve's in first with his ninja-commando-whatever going on, giving them numbers and positions, just like with Kono and the Russians. Danny's blood freezes when Steve informs them that Rachel's tied to a chair in the middle of the room. The chances of her getting caught in the crossfire are huge and Danny can't settle himself knowing that.

Chin and Kono start moving through the back of the warehouse, Steve carrying on through the side entrance along the building while Danny waits by the front, ready to move in when the time comes, itching almost for that time to come while dreading it at the same time. When the word does come, there's a shout and noise and chaos all around. Chin and Steve shouting out the identification and orders to drop weapons while Danny and Kono cover the men -four guys, Hawaii natives, armed and twitching. Danny's main concern is Rachel; sitting there, tears streaming down her face, arms pulled behind her and tied, staring over towards him with wild, scared eyes.

It's enough to hope that nothing happens in those few seconds between identifying themselves and the robbers taking action, that they'll drop their weapons and come quietly. But Danny really doesn't have that kind of luck, and guns are drawn with yells and it's a free for all in a number of seconds. Danny just wants to cross the space, get to Rachel, get her covered, but he's pinned by some crates and there's one nut job with a pistol firing wild towards him. Kono takes out one thug, Chin nailing another in the leg and when one turns towards Rachel, Danny and Steve fire on instinct, taking him out before the gun is fully drawn.

The fourth makes a run for it past Kono, who nails him with a roundhouse to the face and floors him right there. Danny doesn't waste the breath crossing the room. Gun holstered, kneeling in front on Rachel and getting her untied while the sobs start and she shakes from pent up adrenaline, fear and relief. She collapses over his shoulder, sobbing into his shirt while he tries to rub her back soothingly and calm her down. Steve gives him a nod while the sirens of HPD pick up and Danny carries Rachel out, heading straight for a paramedic without preamble.

\--

Sitting by the bed in the hospital, watching Rachel sleep, curled into a ball and still shaking, Danny feels like he can finally let the day slip from his shoulders and breathe again. The two surviving robbers were taken to HPD once they were tended, Danny figured that was that. They'd be charged with murder, robbery and kidnapping and the case was closed. Rachel was his main concern.

With the way she whimpered in her sleep, curled up tight and shaking, brow furrowing deeper and deeper, he knew this was going to be a lasting issue. At least for a while. It had always been something he'd worried about -just as she had. That his job would put her in harms way, that she'd go through something like this because of his job, or that she and Gracie would be in danger. He never thought it would be something as simple as a bank robbery.

"Hey, hey," when she really starts thrashing in her sleep, twisting with the sheets, Danny shifts to the edge of her bed, running a hand down her arm and coaxing her slowly awake. "Rach, hey, it's okay, it's okay." Her eyes open with a start and there's a sob as tears start to roll down her face again. "C'mere, it's okay." He's perched on the edge of the bed, holding her to his chest while she cries and smoothing her hair back. Its gut wrenching to see her like this; strong, capable, wilful Rachel, sobbing in his arms.

He really hopes that Steve interrogates the hell out of those assholes just for the sake of it.

\--

It's later on, when he's left Rachel at the hospital for overnight observation, Grace sleeping beside her mommy and Stan somewhere in the hall on his cell phone, when Danny's back at HQ and Steve has Constipation Face on. "What's up?"

"There's some concern over the eye witness reports." It's the tone, the tone that tells Danny this isn't over, that there's more to follow up on, that they've got something bigger to deal with here. "Three people have said the perps had to look at their phones before grabbing Rachel. We got a hold on one, and this came up."

Kono fired something from the main control up onto the middle screen, a candid photo of Rachel at an ATM. "It came from their phones, an SMS message sent two days before the robbery. Rachel was an intended target." All the tension comes rushing back, and Danny's stuck staring at the screen. Someone was following her, snapping pictures and while Danny realises Grace could've been with Rachel at any time those photos were taken, he's equally angry that anyone followed her in the first place.

"Okay, okay, where does that leave us?" He's already trying to run through things in his head. If this really was because of him, although he can't figure out how it could be, he might not be able to look Rachel in the face again.

"It came from a disposable cell; we've traced it back to a John Elderage. We've been trying to locate him, but nothings come up yet."

"There's something else," and at this point, Danny isn't sure what else there could possibly be, "all four of our bank robbers were employed at White Shores Resort." The name rings a bell, and Danny isn't at all sure why until Chin gets that serious look in his eye and turns straight towards him, "it's owned by Stanley Edwards."

It feels like he's underwater, like he's submerged in freezing cold water and there's no way out. "Come on, that has to be a coincidence. I mean, I hate the guy, but Stan? Step-Stan? There's no way he'd do this, not to Rachel, come on." And he can't believe that he's defending the man, but hell if Danny can wrap his head around it all.

"We looked into it, several of his hotels are losing money, his business is failing." Danny's a little surprised that Steve is letting Kono and Chin do all the convincing, usually super-SEAL is right in there, giving his two-cents. But not this time. "He has Rachel insured for fifteen million."

"What? As in life insurance? Who the hell has a fifteen million dollar policy on their wife?" He can't fathom it, at all. Can't place Stan in that position where he actually pays anyone to kidnap and kill his wife, to kill Rachel. "I can't, this isn't, I'm just so not on board with this." Steve has Constipated Face with a side of Small Child Near By Face and Danny's half tempted to strangle the man. It's not that he doesn't have thoughts on the matter; it's just that he's keeping them to himself, which means Danny most likely won't like them and start off on everyone and frankly, Danny resents that implication.

The best Danny can do is let them satisfy themselves, dig the deeper they need to, discover whatever reasoning there is and move on. It's not that Danny really believes Stan is great; more often than not, Danny still wants to punch the guy, but there's also no way Danny could believe that Stan could pull this. Stan who looked him in the eye and told him things were good, that he loved Rachel and Gracie and things were good. Danny couldn't really fathom that being one big lie because then he'd really want to punch the guy and he probably wouldn't stop.

\--

Danny takes a back seat in the investigation, although Steve tries to convince him otherwise. It's not that Danny doesn't believe them, they're his team too, and he trusts the three of them with his life, with his daughters life. But if this comes up, if what they believe happens to be true, Danny can't be part of it, for Rachel's sake. He knows for a fact that Rachel has trouble believing that Danny doesn't hate Stan. But he doesn't, resents the hell out of the guy, sure. But Danny does not flat out hate the man.

It's just hard sometimes, to make Rachel see that Danny really can appreciate that Stan might not be that bad of a guy, that Danny isn't angling to make Stan the bad guy in anything. So the further away from all of this he is, the better.

It does mean he ends up back at the hospital, checking up on Rachel before she's released to go home. Stan isn't around, something about a last minute meeting that needed to be attended, so Gracie is sitting with her mommy, playing with her dolphin toy while Rachel absently pets at their daughter's hair.

"How's it going?" Grace's face lights up when she spots him, carefully clambering off her mom's bed to throw herself at Danny. It's hard not to feel good about any extra time with Grace, even something as meagre as a few minutes in Rachel's hospital room. "Hey, Monkey, you being good for Mommy?"

"Yeah, we've been playing quiet games." Rachel still looks a little worse for wear, eyes a little too scared, face a little too pale, and Danny sits on the edge of her bed, carefully taking Grace's weight on his hip and brushing his fingers over the back of Rachel's hand.

"You okay there?" It seems to take her a minute to process the question, although she does nod, trying for a tight smile.

"Have you- I mean, the kidnappers?"

"The team is looking into it. I figured I'd stop by, make sure you were okay. Conflict of interest, getting too involved in the case." Because Danny still wants to shoot the surviving kidnappers, wants to take out the pent up rage on them. He and Rachel might be over, but she is still the mother to his daughter, and he still cares, and they had a damn gun pointed at her.

"Don't worry Mommy, Steve's like the best; he'll catch all the bad guys. Just like Daddy does." There's this swell of pride just from Grace's words, the fact that his little girl has such faith in him and his team, it makes him smile just a little, and Rachel seems just a little more at ease.

"Um, are you getting out tonight? Need a ride home or is Stan-" He's not sure why, but there's this strange sort of feeling that until things are sorted, Danny doesn't really want to leave Rachel around Stan too much. There is the chance, after all, that Stan _could_ be involved in all this.

"Over night observation," Rachel muttered, obviously not too happy. "Would you, I mean, could you take Grace for the night?"

"Of course." Danny wasn't even going to ask why Stan couldn't watch her; Danny wasn't even going to suggest it. "We'll stop by in the morning to pick you up, if you like. What do you think Grace, will we take Mommy out for breakfast?"

"Can we go for pancakes? With syrup and sugar?"

"What about work?" Rachel wasn't objecting, and Danny figured that was pretty much an acceptance of the invitation.

"I can take the morning, and it's a Saturday, so it'll be fine." With the morning plan sorted, they packed up Grace's toys, Grace hugging her mother goodnight and Danny noticing but not mentioning the tightness and fierceness of Rachel's hug back, before they started to leave. Bending over, placing a quick kiss to Rachel's forehead, Danny gave her hand a quick squeeze. "Get some rest, we'll be by early, but call if you need anything."

Danny and Grace, waving goodbye, left Rachel to her rest, while Danny called in to Steve to give him an update and inform him that, unless something huge came up, Danny was off the clock until Saturday afternoon at the earliest.

\--

Breakfast actually goes well. Rachel is mostly grateful to be out of the hospital, and Grace is just pleased to have a morning with both her parents. Danny will admit to hovering just a little, making sure Rachel feels strong enough to actually handle their hyper little bundle before he drops them off at the house, automatically asking about Stan before he even realises it.

"Oh, he's in meetings all day. Some new deal about a property." Danny blames Kono for the mild paranoia regarding Stan, but then, never be too careful. Reiterating the offer, telling Rachel she can call at any time, Danny leaves them to their Saturday, already being mapped out by Grace, and promises to call later on before heading into the office. He expected some kind of attempt to explain yet again the details of Rachel's kidnapping from Kono, maybe Chin going over the evidence again. He didn't expect Steve to stand there, at the door to Danny's office and stare for a while before sighing.

"Come with me." It's the serious tone that stops Danny from arguing, because he's gotten to know Steve's faces, and when they match up with the serious tone, there really isn't a reason to argue. Steve leads them to his office, the desk covered with pieces from the investigation, pictures and paper leads and all sorts strewn across the desk like a tornado blew them in.

"If this is about cleaning up your filing system, you are on your own." But Steve wasn't smiling, wasn't amused, wasn't joking and that was when Danny figured this was Steve's turn to put in his opinion on the investigation.

"We've found out what John Elderage is." Danny is about to interject with 'who, not what' when Steve continues. "It's a name that's popped up twelve times in the last six months in the White Shores system. One night, every few weeks, fully comp for all amenities. It's coming in at over ten thousand dollars worth of hotel bills." None of this is screaming out at Danny as Stan hiring people to kidnap, possibly kill, Rachel. But for some reason, he doesn't interrupt Steve, just stares at tall the files and lets Steve keep going. "We've checked, the only person caught on video going into that room is Stan. We checked, they are all dates he's supposedly been off the island on business. And the cons? All have the same parole officer, all placed in White Shores within a month of each other. They've been getting paid way over the usual. Two of them are bus boys for the hotel, one was a valet and the other worked maintenance. In that last month and a half, all four of them have been paid over three thousand dollars."

"That's a hell of a lot of overtime." There really isn't any way to explain that one away.

"I'm sorry Danny, but it really looks like Stan had her kidnapped." The wind is completely knocked out of Danny's sails there and then. Because gut or no gut, evidence leads the way and it is all pointing towards Stan. Elderage is just an alias, just an attempt to cover up the burn phones.

"Okay, do you have anything concrete? Anything that cannot be explained? Phone calls, cheques, instructions? Anything that isn't just a paper trail and Rachel's picture on a phone?" Because if they push this, with Stan's money and lawyers and everything, they need to have it in the bag. "Not only do you need to convince a judge, someone needs to convince Rachel." If it is Stan, which it looks like it is, and Rachel isn't convinced, and the judge isn't convinced, and he walks, there is the huge possibility that Rachel and Stan would push the petition again and stop Danny from ever seeing Grace. And just the thought of it make him feel ill.

Steve seems to get it. "We are going to nail him with this. Bury him under so much evidence that no one can dig him out." And it's reassuring to know that Steve has Someone Hurt My Family and Now I'm Going to Blow Shit Up face.

\--

Steve being Steve put in a call to the Governor before they considered making the arrest. Getting Jameson on board was pretty simple, showing her all the evidence, Kono talking it through like she was presenting it for a case, much like Chin was teaching her. The Governor kept shooting little glances towards Danny, these little frowns on her face like she was trying to gauge his whole reaction to it all.

Danny was unusually quiet.

Jameson kept glancing towards him, and Danny doesn't want to say it was pity, but it definitely looked something like that on her face, maybe a little bit of compassion, mostly just pity though. Steve had already mentioned that Danny had no involvement beyond the initial bust, and even then, they hadn't gotten the results back on whose bullet was fatal to the gunman turning towards Rachel. They were doing this completely by the book. No illegal searches, warrants for all the call logs, no broken doors or unsanctioned raids. Danny was just a little bit proud of them.

"And you are sure about this?" Jameson wasn't coming across as unbelieving, not like Danny had been. She seemed to trust Steve's instincts, trust his team and decisions. It was good to know, that when push did come to shove, they had the Governor on their side for more than just good PR.

"We wouldn't have brought this to you otherwise. Everything we've found points to a contract job. Jones and Bart in there are screaming that they didn't have any idea who hired them, Kaoku was the only one that had dealings with their employer."

"And he was-"

"The one that took aim towards the hostage, yes." It sends a tendril of fear down Danny's spine; thankfully he manages to cover it up. They start talking about the next step, Jameson gives them the go to see about the arrest warrant, gives them the name of a judge that would be their best bet at a non-contest, she promises the best prosecutor the island has to handle the case, and Danny feels his chest loosen just a little.

\--

Stan is arrested the following afternoon. They pick him up at the house while Grace is at school and Danny stays in the Camaro while Kono and Chin lead Stan away and Rachel stands at the door, holding the warrant, shocked and awestruck.

"You want me to-" Steve makes a vague gesture towards the front of the house, but Danny shakes his head.

"Thanks but, I should just," they'll have a falling out over this at some point, for Grace and Rachel's sake, it's better to get it over with now. This way, Rachel can just get it all out in one go, have Danny be the subject of her ire yet again. "I'm used to her shouting." He gives a small, tight smile and steps out of the car, Chin and Kono already gone, and Steve just waiting there.

He makes it to the door, Rachel's face falling slightly and she smacks his shoulder, then again and again until she's actually crying and her hands are just waving. Danny steers her inside, sitting her down in the kitchen and getting a glass of water. "Is this some kind of pay back? Is this some horrible, vicious attempt to-"

"Rachel, Rach, no." The glass is placed in front of her, and Danny crouches by her side, ignoring the flair of protest in his bum knee. "I had nothing to do with the investigation, the team tracked down cell phone records, pay slips, and an alias that came back to Stan, staying at the White Shores property when he claimed to be out of the State." Rachel's crying had subsided, her tears drying on her face and thankfully, she wasn't shaking. "Did you know he was having financial issues?"

"No." She just stared at the marble table, whispering her words and looking more broken than in the hospital, "He doesn't really talk much about work. I thought I liked it, when we were- you talked about work a lot, I knew about busts, I knew about big cases. But Stan was so quiet, he'd tell me about new property opportunities, about meetings on the other islands to set up more resorts but-" With a heavy sigh, Rachel took the glass, sipping slightly. "What on Earth am I meant to tell Grace?"

They had made a point of never involving anyone in Grace's life unless they were fairly sure they'd be there a while. Danny hadn't let her meet the team for a month and a half until he'd known, this was it, this was his team now. He talked about them, let Grace know about his co-workers, his friends if he were truthful at the time, she'd been excited, and then they'd all met at the football game and Gracie loved Kono, and admired Chin and was practically in awe of Steve. It worked out.

Grace had taken a long time to warm up to Stan, and even then, she refused to call him anything other than Step-Stan.

"We'll figure it out."

Rachel took a deep breath, only shaking a little, and reached for Danny's hand, clasping it tightly in hers. He gave her fingers a small squeeze, his own support offered where she'd asked.

\--

One month later, Stan went to trial for conspiracy to commit murder. Rachel didn't want Grace anywhere near the trial and she'd thanked Danny, but turned down his offer to come with her. The team were in the middle of a drug running case that may or may not involve a politician's son the first day Stan was due in court. Danny was almost habitual in checking his phone.

"Problems?"

"No, not really." Things seemed to swing between mellow and near psychotic with Steve, just like usual, which was comforting at least. "I spoke to Grace this morning; she's staying with one of her friends from school until this whole thing with Stan is done. She says Rachel's been off lately." It was a little worrying just how astute their eight year old was, how she picked up on everything around her, especially her parents moods. Although it really shouldn't have surprised Danny at all.

"It's probably the trial, right? That started this morning, didn't it?" Steve's the same, still knows way too much for it to be comfortable, but there's really nothing to say about it anyway. "You wanna take the day?"

"I already asked if she wanted me there, she said no." Danny knew he was being moody, he wasn't really sure why. His anger towards Stan had mostly dissipated, mostly. Now it was mostly concern for Rachel's well-being and not out of any kind of worry for Grace either. It was just complicated, and in a way, Danny still felt somewhat responsible towards Rachel. If he's really honest with himself, there's a whole lot more to do with it than just that, but he's not really in the mood for self-awareness on that level right now, and he can deal with it all later. "Can we just go and arrest bad guys?"

\--

On the third day of the trial, Rachel calls him. "I can't do this, I can't sit here and listen to this, it's just bringing it all- I thought it would be fine- I thought I could do it, that I could look him in the- I can't do this, Danny." She sounds like she's on the verge of tears, there's this high pitch to her voice that only really happens when she's terrified or angry or about to start bawling -he heard it a few times during the hormonal stages of her pregnancy. The echo in the background tells him that she's probably hiding in the ladies room, and that alone will probably mortify her later.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. Calm down." He's sitting in his office, already clearing things away and shutting down the computer, "I will be five minutes, okay? Five minutes and I will meet you outside, outside the court house, Rachel." He doesn't even need to say anything to Steve, not with that look on his partners face and the nod that Steve gives when he hears that its Rachel Danny's on the phone with.

He's at the courthouse four minutes and seventeen seconds later.

Rachel meets him at the doors and it takes her less than fifteen seconds to just shake her head and wrap her arms around his shoulders, shaking but not sobbing and just holding on with her forehead pressed against Danny's neck. They just stand like that for five minutes before they're called back to court and Danny doesn't say a thing when Rachel threads her fingers through his, sitting in the court room, back ramrod straight, eyes forward. He just gives her hand a comforting squeeze.

\--

Stan is sentenced to a minimum of seven years for his role in the crimes; the surviving kidnappers are given life sentences. Danny isn't surprised when Rachel drinks herself ridiculous and calls him at three in the morning, babbling nonsense down the phone line. He offers to come over, but she just keeps talking -about the plans she'd had, about how this was supposed to be a good marriage, about how stupid she'd been, about how mad she was at herself for trusting him, for letting him be around their child, for actually missing him.

Danny tries to answer the way she needs him to, tries to offer support, but he's pretty sure she's going to completely forget the whole conversation come the morning. Either way, he drives over early, letting himself in because Rachel still hasn't changed the code on the gate and he would get mad at her but it does mean he can still get in to see her. Grace is already getting herself ready for school, although she's near ecstatic to see Danny that morning, but something was definitely wrong with Mommy, because she's been sick all morning.

He finds her hunched over the toilet in the bathroom beside the guest room. It's another flash back to the early days of her pregnancy, when Rachel had the worst case of morning sickness that Danny had ever heard of, every morning for the first three months. Danny knows the routine now. He gets a damp cloth, a glass of water, placing the glass on the floor beside Rachel's hand, using the cloth to mop her forehead and dab over her face and just pulling her hair back and rubbing gently up her spine.

Gracie makes her own breakfast, and Danny's fairly certain it probably had something with chocolate spread or nutella in it, but by the time Grace is ready to head to school, the time she needs to leave to get there, Rachel is curled under the covers in the guest bed, groaning softly and Danny takes Grace to school.

\--

It should probably surprise him, in all fairness it doesn't really. Rachel gets a rather quick and easy divorce from Stan, considering he tried to have her killed, she comes out of it exceptionally well off, liquidating most of Stan's assets and selling off his failing hotels. Rachel still has pretty bad days, and Danny still finds himself sitting up at ridiculous times listening to Rachel rant. There was one rather interesting occasion, in the middle of a stake out, where she called and bitched and rambled and vented for nearly forty minutes while Steve sat beside Danny and tried not to blush, laugh or squirm depending on the subject of Rachel's ire.

"I might be seeing why you two had issues with communicating." Danny could sort of feel just how uncomfortable Steve was, since up until that point Danny had been the one with the explosive temper. "She uh- she sure knows some interesting words."

"She's British, Steven. She knows how to use words in rather colourful ways."

Its five weeks after the sentencing when Rachel shows up at 5-0 HQ, dressed down in jeans and a cami-top and sneakers, hair unsleeked and looking like she did way back when Danny first met her. He's thrown, for the barest of seconds, and then he remembers that it was Stan she got dressed up for, all of Stan's functions and meetings and little parties that she attended with her perfect hair and smart outfits. "We need to talk."

Normally, his defences would go right up then and there, but she's just so relaxed that it lulls him into a sense of ease with the entire situation. Only when she mentions Grace does he even think to go on alert. "Our custody arrangement," and it strikes him there that maybe Rachel has plans to leave Hawaii, to go back to the mainland, or even England now that she's divorced again.

"Rach,"

"Just listen," they sit down in his office, and Danny is aware of Steve sort of hovering nearby, watching for any sign that this is about to turn into an explosive argument like the ones Steve was first privy to, "I'm thinking about going back to work, I've looked into it and it would mean certain changes to my schedule, and to Grace's. I thought, perhaps, we could work out some way for you to see her more." Danny's not sure if the world is turning on its head.

Steve hasn't blown anything up this week, hasn't thrown people in shark tanks or dangled them off buildings or played Russian roulette with a crack dealer. And apparently, Rachel is back in jeans -designer jeans of course- and sneakers and is actually offering Danny more time with Grace. Its official, he slipped into the twilight zone.

"Well, yeah, of course I would love that, but it's not like I know what my schedule is going to be at all." Because he hasn't actually been home in three days, and at four am that morning he'd been on a shipping container playing hide and seek with gun runners.

"I realise this, but perhaps, dropping her off at school three times a week? Picking her up maybe? An added weekend or something? I realise we're going to be ironing this out for a while, but, it's a start, isn't it?" Normally, he'd make a crack about self-help tapes or those Dr Phil reruns, and that maybe it's just as well she's thinking about working again since day time television must've fried her brains.

He avoids it though, thanks to Steve standing outside the office, making faces that Danny supposes are supposed to convey support and assistance should it be needed. "Yeah, we can work something out."

"Oh, and I'm selling the house. Amana has a cousin who deals in real estate, we're looking into something." She says it with such a blasé attitude that Danny figures she's actually okay with it. He's actually starting to wonder if the whiplash from her mood swings and the stress and high blood pressure from Steve is some sort of conspiracy against him.

\--

When they can, Danny and Rachel take Grace out for dinner on Thursday nights. It's the one night of the week that Rachel doesn't worry about appearances or anything else, kicks back and eats with Danny and Grace at a pathetic little imitation diner not far from the beach where everything is greasy and comes with fries. When they can't manage dinner -if Danny's on a case or Rachel ends up pouring over her numbers at night, they do breakfast on Friday morning.

Grace talks at length about school and how Mister Hoppy should probably go up for sale, but Rachel usually convinces Grace to keep Mister Hoppy; he is part of the family after all. Grace tries to convince Rachel to convince Danny to let Kono teach her how to surf, tries to convince Danny to convince Rachel that she's old enough to stay up past ten now. The only thing that seems to be working is the surf lessons, since Rachel seems to be caving to boogie boarding slowly but surely, which means surfing may be a matter of time.

When they do go out for dinner, Grace stays with Danny, who drops her off at school and then Rachel picks her up. Their custody agreement is pretty much out the window and things are fairly loose with each of them.

One time, Rachel calls Danny on the Friday afternoon, while he and Steve are in pursuit through Waikiki. "Yeah, hi, you okay?" His standard greeting for Rachel is slightly more giving than his ringtone -which had changed from the Psycho theme to Single Ladies after Grace got a hold of Danny's phone and downloaded far too many pop songs.

"I'm fine, yes, I was just- Danny, what's that noise?"

"What noise? Oh, that noise? That's just the tires," his tone gets pinched as Steve takes a turn with far too much speed, the tires screech and Danny's bracing himself against the floor, the dash and the door. "What's up?"

"Can you pick up Grace? I don't think I'll be finished until after five tonight," she pauses again as Danny curses up a storm, the car narrowly missing two on coming vehicles, "Is everything alright?"

"Oh yeah, fine, car chase, nothing new. Um, I think I should be able to. Yeah. Um, yeah, shouldn't be a problem, _Jesus Christ, Steve the pedestrians!_ I gotta go, I gotta, yeah. I'll call you when I'm not - _eyes on the road McGarrett, eyes on the road_ \- yeah, I'll call you." Because really, Rachel doesn't need to hear his last minutes on earth as he rants at Steve for driving at almost 100 miles per hour on the wrong side of the road.

Turns out, Steve's lack of awareness for proper road safety helps them wrap up the case before three. And if Steve is just a little bit smug at the fact that Danny gets to leave to pick up Grace before coming back to the HQ all thanks to Steve and his insane driving, well, Danny lets it slide this one time.

\--

Danny drops Grace off at twenty past six, giving Rachel time to breath before he lets their slightly hyperactive child loose. Instead of the usual dropping her off and leaving, Danny gets invited to dinner. He accepts.

The place is covered in boxes, furniture that Rachel's selling, paintings she's getting rid of, ornaments she doesn't want, they're all mostly boxed up in the foyer, waiting to be thrown wherever they're going. Grace seems to be taking the move in her stride; Rachel picked out a fairly average size house, close to the beach, but not on it like Steve's house, four bedrooms, moderate garden space and in a fairly close community. Danny isn't surprised that the neighbourhood is friendly, Grace already has play dates and they haven't moved in yet.

After Grace goes to bed, Danny is somewhere between leaving and staying, until Rachel offers him a beer to go along with her glass of wine and they end up sitting in the living room, on the floor because she's packed up the sofa to get rid of it, because it was ghastly and uncomfortable and really, what was the point?

They end up reminiscing about the past; Danny's mildly surprised it's not all maudlin and filled with resentment. For the longest time, the most they could think about were the bad spells, those points towards the end when all they did was fight and scream. But the good times, the picnics, the days out, the nights in, the first five years of Gracie's life, all those good memories that actually come flooding back quickly and easily. It's a little strange.

"I still find it hard to believe you didn't realise what was going on when I drove into your rear."

"Aw, c'mon now, how the hell was I supposed to know that anyone would actually think of rear ending a cop as a pick up tactic?"

"You know, I was surprised you actually gave me lessons. I thought it was a line, I was seriously under the impression that you were using it as a line."

"I was serious! You were all cute and distressed and apologising. And that skirt, oh, my, God, it just-" Danny makes sort of gestures with his hands to illustrate Rachel's toosh, getting a giggle from her as his beer sloshes over to spill slightly on the floor.

"Funnily enough, all the professors in the University felt the exact same way."

"Oh yeah? They all ogle your sweet little backside through your classes? Watch you walking down the hall and doing that cute little shake thing with your hips?"

"That was one time, one time, and I was trying to seduce you."

Somewhere between remembering their first wedding anniversary and Grace's birth, Rachel ends up dozing against Danny's shoulder, by this point Danny definitely isn't going home and frankly, is far too tired to move. Grace wakes them up the following morning, standing in front of them with a stern face and furrowed brows and demanding pancakes for breakfast.

Rachel groans something about drums and elephants, whimpering against the light before pushing up to her feet and shakily heading towards the door before Danny stops her, hands on her hips and directs her to the stairs. "You go shower and whatever, I'll feed Grace." After breakfast, Rachel takes Grace to school and Danny goes to work in the clothes he had on the day before -it's okay though, he has a change at the office.

\--

Somehow, the whole of the team end up helping Rachel and Grace move house. Danny's not sure how it happened, but it did. Kamekona was responsible for the removal company -a friend of a friend of a cousin's brother's wife's sister's boyfriend's aunt or something. Grace is her usual, darling and charming self, piling all of her things into the back of Steve's truck one trip after another and overseeing the careful removal of Mister Hoppy and his home.

The furniture that Rachel wants to keep is loaded in the removal van; half of Rachel's things are in Kono's car, the other half in the Camaro and Grace's things piled up with some of the other pieces in Steve's truck. Grace begs and pleads and whines to get to ride with Steve in the truck, using her biggest doe eyes and a little trembling lip, and frankly, the fact that Steve pulls out a pout to help her just makes Danny throw his hands up and give in.

It's mildly worrying when Steve and Gracie team up.

"So, Grace is going to have a few of her friends over next weekend, once we've settled in. I'm limiting her to six, but you know there will be around ten." Grace was rather good at adding numbers to her mother’s limits, and she did it in such a sweet, manipulative way, that Danny was starting to wonder if maybe Kono was a bad idea for an occasional babysitter. "I was wondering if you'd like to come over? Maybe help out a little?"

"Sure, if there's no case or if Steve manages to not blow something up that requires paperwork, I'll be there." Grace is a social little butterfly, she loves having people around, and way back when, Grace was constantly having friends over for afternoon parties or sleepovers. Danny's a little surprised that Rachel actually wants him there, but he's never turned down more time with Grace, he's not about to start.

\--

They don't make it to the weekend.

Grace's appendix bursts in the middle of the week, putting her in hospital and sending both Danny and Rachel off the deep end. Danny manages to get a little bit of the stress and worry and panic out of his system in a car chase, shouting at Steve who goes over a cliff on a motorbike and possibly tackling a suspect just a little too hard. But Grace spent three hours in surgery; Danny thinks he might be entitled to a little bit of over reaction.

Doctors are adamant that Grace is strong and young and healthy, she comes out of surgery well, although she seems to be taking her time to wake up from the anaesthetic. There's no way around it, no way to talk the doctors into letting them stay, and Danny takes Rachel home while the doctors promise to call when Grace wakes up. They leave a stuffed rabbit under her arm and Rachel weaves her necklace around Grace's wrist, determined to make sure their little girls knows Mommy and Daddy were there.

They make it past the door of the house before Rachel breaks a little, shaking and trying to hold back her sobs while Danny rubs her back and holds her and promises that things will be okay. It's terrifying that something so average could hurt Grace; they've tried so hard to keep her safe, to stop Danny's job affecting her, to stop Stan's crimes getting to her, Danny fighting with nature and the ocean and the world to keep Gracie safe and then her appendix goes and shows them they're powerless.

As Rachel's shaking subsides, her breathing regulating and her body just resting against Danny, there's the barest of moments where Danny thinks that she might've fallen asleep against him. Until the soft brush of her nose against his jaw, and the way her hands slid to his waist. It could've been him, it could've been her, but either way they went from the comforting embrace to a tentative kiss. It was careful, a little bit of poor judgement and required reassurance, but in some ways it was comforting on its own; familiar, easy, safe. Rachel's hands slide over his sides, stroking over his ribs over his shirt while one of his hands cups her jaw and the other splays over the small of her back, fingers idly caressing over the fabric of her summer dress.

It feels perfectly natural, to stand there in the door way and just let go for a moment or two. It's Rachel that deepens things; bites a little on Danny's bottom lip, sighs against him, angles herself just that little bit differently, and Danny isn't about to refuse it. Opening up and tongues meeting and it's just a burst of familiarity, they were always good in this area, always compatible when it came to pure urges.

Neither of them stop it, not when Rachel's legs are wrapped around Danny's waist as he presses are against the wall, not when tie and shirt and dress and shoes are discarded, not when tables are bumped and belts lost somewhere on the stairs, not when hands and mouths and nails find skin. Rachel hits the sheets first, laid out on her back over the soft white sheets, hair spilling around her head as Danny braced his weight on his hands at her sides, leaning over her to trail kisses and nips down her chest. Long fingers tangle in Danny's hair, tightening and clenching but not pulling or pushing, just Rachel looking for something to hold on to.

When they'd met, his hair had been shorter and she'd developed some kind of fascination with running her fingers through it; during sex, after sex, laying out on the sofa while watching the T.V, even just when they slept. Rachel's fingers found their way to his hair. For him, it was her hips. Her sharp angled hips, smooth and soft and creamy, firm under his hand and fitting just so perfectly in his hands. Even as she arches up under him, hands running to the back of his head, Danny's hands shift to grip her hips, meeting her as she shifts to kiss him again, breathing into each others mouths as hands suddenly spark back into action, shifting and moving and stripping the rest of their clothes away.

It starts frantic, Rachel rolling him under her before straddling his hips and just seating herself on his length with a low, long moan as Danny hissed slightly and his gripped tightened just a little on her hips. But then it's a slow rock, Rachel building up the pace, arching her back and pressing down over him. Danny changes the angle when he sits up, lips tracing over her throat as her head falls back and she moans loudly, hands clutching to the back of his head. The position shifts again, Rachel sprawled out, knee hooked over Danny's hip as he ignored the protesting of his bad knee and twisted her under him, slowing things down, drawing them out, controlling the pace and depth and strength and driving Rachel all kinds of crazy and wanton. Her nails dig into the back of his neck, her breath coming out in low gasps and moans, her attempts to get him to hurry up -harder, faster, more, something, anything- going unanswered. Danny just nibbles lightly at her earlobe, hand running along her side to tease along the swell of her breast, his other sliding between them, teasing between her legs while her thighs shake and her muscles tighten.

She shakes apart with a muffled gasp and cry, her mouth pressed into his shoulder as her fingernails leave marks and her legs tighten. It doesn't take much for him to follow, the way her muscles clench and release and the low, whimpering moans of encouragement while her lips brush over his jaw.

They lay out over the bed for a good few minutes, Rachel wrapped around Danny, Danny braced over Rachel, just gathering their breath and their wits before they both just give in and crawl under the covers. Neither mentions a thing when they automatically slide into place; Danny behind Rachel, Rachel curving into Danny's chest, his hand resting against her stomach, her head angled under his jaw.

They can deal with whatever awkwardness in the morning.

\--

The morning comes at 6:45 with a call from the hospital, followed at 7:30 by a call from Steve. Morning routines are rushed through, Danny doesn't bother with a tie, Rachel doesn't bother with her hair, and Danny stops by the hospital with Rachel for a few minutes to give Grace a kiss before heading out to meet Steve at their newest crime scene.

"How is she?"

"Doing okay, a little groggy from the medication, but-" Danny can only shake his head and sigh. "She's excited about the scar." He thought it was only little boys who wanted to show off scars, that it was boys who would weave the tale of their awesome misadventure that resulted in the permanent marking on their skin. Gracie, however, was a little thrilled to tell Danny that she would have a scar on her side; she'd be like Danno and Steve now.

"And Rachel? Wait, what was that?" Danny stares at Steve, who has a smirk on his face that really shouldn't be allowed when standing around a crime scene where a twenty something Hawaii boy was sitting at the wheel of a white van with a bullet hole in the side of his head. "You just, you smiled. That was a smile, asking about Rachel _never_ gets a smile."

"What? Shut up, she's fine, I'm fine, Grace's fine, we're fine. Shut up and work." Even as he turns away to do just that, Danny can still sense Steve smiling away like a smug little idiot, but he doesn't comment. The thing is, Danny probably did smile, and it's not like he could help it really. Whatever it is that's happening with him and Rachel, it really doesn't feel like a horrible idea, and that's enough for him to not worry about it right now.

"So, why would this kid- this young, very male and supposedly working at the time of death, kid- why would he need a sparkly, pink handbag?" Holding up the object Danny just watches as Smug Face #4 (that's the I Know You're Going to Tell Me but I Totally Already Know face) turns into Constipated Face #3.5 (that's the Shit, Get Serious with a little bit of Someone is Getting Shot face).

"Possible abduction, possibly the killers, possibly nothing. I'll call Chin."

Danny just nods, looking over the bag. It wasn't like he had delusions about it being an easy day.

\--

Grace does well when she leaves the hospital, Rachel keeps her off from school for a few days and they arrange to have her friends over another time, when she's feeling better and doesn't have her side bandaged up. Danny ends up staying in the guest room of the house for the first few days, helping out since Grace isn't at school and Rachel had foregone keeping the maid or driver after the divorce from Stan.

While Danny and Steve chase down leads, Chin or Kono keep an eye on Grace, and when they go to make the bust Kamekona takes Grace for shave ice and a nice, peaceful walk along the beach. They call it a night just after five, with two perps booked and paperwork waiting for the morning. Grace is a little self conscious about the gauze taped over her side, and begs to go to Steve's so she can play in the water without anyone seeing the bandages. Steve being Steve and Grace being Grace with the most adorable puppy face in the world, they all end up at Steve's, grilling steaks and sipping beer on the lanai while Kono and Grace splash in the water up to their knees.

"Anyone home?" It's the click of heels on the wood inside that announces Rachel's arrival before she actually steps out into the evening air. "Oh, everyone is home."

"Hey, Rachel, grab a seat, you want some dinner? Wine? Beer?" Steve playing host is a little bit amusing, and Rachel seems to agree with Danny there, laughing slightly as she steps over to take a seat, nodding slightly.

"Dinner would be nice, and a beer is fine." Her heels are kicked off, and rather than take her own seat, she plants herself on the edge of the lounger Danny commandeered, nudging his leg over for space, "Where's Grace?"

"Down by the edge of the water, playing with Kono." She glances down, patting his knee slightly before getting up again and wandering down to the beach where Grace and Kono are. Danny doesn't notice anything until Chin clears his throat, and then he sees that Steve and Chin are staring at him.

"What?"

"Is this what you two were like when you were married?" Chin asks, like it's completely natural, and Danny has to take a minute to figure out what he means. He can't really remember having an actual argument with Rachel for months, they reached a sort of steady place where things were chilling out and calming and working well. And even after the thing with Stan, with the kidnap and stress and trial, he and Rachel sort of settled in this give and take of support of quiet comfort.

Then there was the sex, that night after Grace's operation and neither of them had mentioned it, but it wasn't like the morning after was awkward or tense or anything. But it's not really like when they were married either.

"Nah, we were still kind of explosive." And maybe they've just reached to where they can be friends, where they don't need to scratch and claw and break each others spirit, where they can compromise and meet each other half way. It should be a good thing, but as Rachel laughs from down at the edge of the beach on Steve's back yard, running around in the water despite the expensive skirt she's wearing, Danny ends up wondering just what the hell they think they're doing.

\--

Danny drives Grace and Rachel home, dropping them off but helping Grace into the house and promising to come over early in the morning to take her for pancakes. "You could always stay again, Danno." Because he's been at Rachel's house since Grace went into hospital five days ago. He has clothes and toiletries at Rachel's now and it's a little worrying how easily he could just stay over.

"Gracie, sweetie, I need to go home and sort out some things. The milk in the fridge has probably turned to cheese." She laughs it off, accepting that Danny still has his own apartment and doesn't actually live with her and Mommy, no matter what it seems like right then. Grace gives him a hug, Danny's heart clenching a little as he has to remember not to hold her too tight, and kissing him good night.

"Early, Danno. Don't forget! I love you!" Danny's reply is lost on her as she runs into the house, leaving Danny and Rachel in the drive, slightly awkward.

"You could, you know."

"Could what?"

"Stay." Her shoes are in one hand, her other hand reaches out to tangle with Danny's fingers, threading them together as she steps in. "You could stay." If Danny's honest with himself, he's always been still a little in love with Rachel, it's hard to let go of all those feelings, especially for the mother of his child. But this Rachel, she's just so much different, and maybe it's the experiences, maybe its Hawaii, maybe it's time. But Rachel is calm; she's serene, less of a snob these days. Although it was Stan that turned her into a pretentious snob, before then she was just properly snarky, which Danny had liked.

"Rachel," he's prepared to tell her it's not a good idea, that they have far too much history to sort through and things haven't changed since the divorce, the issues are still there, the reasons are still there -she had cited 'irreconcilable differences' for a reason. She doesn't let him get to it though, stepping that little bit further forward and kissing him, almost like she did just a few nights ago.

Except its far more tender; it's not about fear or need for comfort. It's Rachel stating a point. The sparks are still there. There in the way she tilts her body towards him, in the way his hand slips around her waist, in the way their hands clench together. Rachel's lips part, but things don't deepen, just the soft, teasing knowledge that they were once so great that nothing else mattered, that neither of them cared for the limitations or the rest of the world.

They part, with Danny's arm still around her waist and Rachel's arm over his shoulder, her shoes resting just against his shoulder blade and their hands still joined. "Have dinner with me tomorrow, at a restaurant, just us."

"What about Grace?"

"I've already asked Miss Kalakaua to watch her. Grace will stay over at her apartment, and we'll meet them the next morning, for Grace's boogie board lesson at the beach." And it strikes Danny that Rachel is asking him out, again, because the first time around she'd been the one to push them past driving lessons towards actual dates as well. Danny would feel affronted if he could be bothered to.

So he agrees, they share a brief kiss goodnight and Danny drives back to the dump that is his apartment where he most definitely does not freak out over the fact that he is pretty sure he's dating his ex-wife again.

\--

Dinner is easy, although Danny had wondered if there would be some slight tension. There's none. Even though it's just the two of them rather than with more people to act as buffers to stop them diving off a cliff edge like they could. They manage to make it to the end of desert before either of them broach the subject of _'them'_ as an item, because Rachel likes quiet, stress free meals and Danny likes getting to the end of dinner without a fight.

"So just what the hell are we doing here?"

"I'd like to think we're taking things slow, but I don't think that's ever been possible for us," and Rachel is so very right there. They tried it first time around and within three months they were living together, another two and they were married. Slow just doesn't happen for them. "I'm not sure if it was Stanley, or if it was just the kidnapping in general, but- for weeks, I wasn't sleeping. I kept seeing those faces and the guns and I just- but the one thing that I knew, that I never doubted, was that I could call you, and you would be there, you would get them and I-" Rachel plays with the edge of her napkin ring, and Danny stays quiet to let her talk, to let her think. "I always knew you were a good cop, Danny. But now I know that you are _that_ good, it worries me still, but not as much."

It means more than she probably knows; Grace has always called him a great detective, he's always been so grateful for his daughters belief and pride. Hearing it from Rachel boosters all that. "Except nothing has changed here, Rach. I'm still a cop, just in a different State." He doesn't bother mentioning that he never got into quite as many death-threatening situations in Jersey as he does in Hawaii.

"And I know how well your team work, and I see how happy Grace is, and how safe she is." They've gone through a total role reversal; a year and a half ago, Danny was the one trying to explain to Rachel why his being a cop was a good thing for their daughter while Rachel worried about how the hell they were meant to get through things with the stress of it and the worry. "I'm not saying it'll be easy all the time, but Danny," her hand reaches out, grasping his wrist, "I haven't ever stopped loving you."

It's one of those things where they can say no -well, he can say no- and hate himself later for the missed opportunity, or just suck it up and go for it. He's never really been the reckless type, not even when he was younger; he'd had responsibilities -to his mother, his father, to his younger brother and sister. He'd never been the leap first and look later type, but maybe Steve was rubbing off on him, maybe this was all Steve's fault, but Danny turned his hand over so that he was returning her hold, rather than leave her holding onto his wrist.

"Okay, so, what the hell are we doing here?" Because Rachel knew -despite any protesting on his end, he really hadn't gotten over her, ever.

"We're moving you into our home."

"Oh yeah, that's keeping it slow and steady."

"Are you actually going to argue with me? Grace adores when we're under the same roof, and you know we'll only end up doing it in a few weeks time, so you might as well suck it up and get it over with." And later, when she tugs him into her bedroom, into their bedroom, she takes the time to show him that she'd already cleared out space in the closet for him, that she'd already put the clothes he'd left there in the closet, his things were already in their place and Danny doesn't mind at all.

\--

The only thing that is mentioned, when Danny states that he won't be at the apartment anymore, and if they need him he'll be at the house with Rachel and Grace, the only thing anyone asks, is if they can set fire to Danny's apartment once they've helped get his boxes of stuff out. Steve notices the lack of leather loafers three weeks after Danny's moved in with Rachel. He still wears shoes, proper and professional shoes, but they are not leather loafers.

"Rachel get into your closet?"

"Shut up."

"I'm just saying, it's an improvement. It's a good thing."

"I am not having this conversation with you. Shut up."

"Maybe you should let her at the shirts, and the ties. With a pair of scissors preferably."

"Steven, shut the hell up and just drive. We have a serial killer to find, would you just focus on that and not my footwear."

There's silence for about twenty seconds.

"I can give Rachel a list of places to get stuff if she wants."

"I will shoot you in the face if you don't zip it."

\--

Following a horrific spell of cases; serial killer, drug runners, human traffickers, cop killers, child abductors and a rather interesting kidnap and ransom attempt that utilised a live cow and gallons of strawberry scented lubrication, the 5-0 get a full weekend down time.

Naturally, having lived in each others pocket for the best part of two months, the team automatically arrange an afternoon at Steve's, messing around on the beach and grilling steaks. It turns into a big affair, a few of Kono's surfer friends dropping in to enjoy the almost private beach, Kono taking Grace out on her boogie board, Chin shows up with Malia, blushing just a little and Danny is amused to see that Chin can actually blush. Rachel thinks it’s adorable, actually voicing her opinion and getting a laugh out of Malia.

Danny doesn't even complain when Steve puts pineapple on his burger just to piss with him.

"Do you think it'll be quiet around the holidays?" Rachel questions, leaning into Danny while things wind down, Malia and Chin having departed just a few minutes ago, Kono and Grace the only ones near the water, building sand castles and Steve sitting just a few feet away, pretending not to be listening.

"How do you mean?"

"I was thinking, we could visit your parents for Christmas." Danny's mom had been apprehensive at first when Danny explained the situation. She'd never been overly fond of Rachel to begin with, but following the divorce and then the speed at which Rachel remarried and then moved to Hawaii, the elder Mrs Williams was not at all enamoured with the former Mrs Williams. Rachel, perhaps, felt the need to change that.

"What about, Thanksgiving? Whole family doesn't really show up for Christmas." Because the family is rather large. Thanksgiving is the one holiday that the entire Williams family actually make it together. "Thanksgiving in Jersey, New Year in London?" If Rachel is making the effort, Danny can too.

"What about Christmas?"

"Figure we should spend that at home."

And Danny does not miss Steve's smug grin.

\--


End file.
